Target by Simon Kernick Read Free Book Online Page B

returned to London, bitter and defeated, it was him I'd gone to for support. The thing was, Dom had always been there for me when I needed him, and although I'd always appreciated everything he'd done for me, and had told him so on many occasions, I'd never actually done any major favours in return. I would have if he'd ever needed one, but the fact that I hadn't always made me feel that I owed him, even though I knew he'd never call in the debt.
    And when you owe someone, you really don't want to shit on them. Nevertheless, I picked up and put down the handset twice before finally forcing myself to make the call.
    'Rob?' he groaned into the phone. 'Is that you? What's happened? You all right?'
    'Yeah,' I said. 'Sort of.'
    'Listen, I'm in Dubai on business. I've got a breakfast meeting in ten minutes. Let me call you back.'
    'No, I need to talk to you now.'
    'What's wrong?' he asked. 'Is it anything to do with Yvonne and Chloe?'
    Dom, more than anyone, knew how hard I'd taken the break-up of my marriage and how much I missed the two of them. He sounded concerned, and I felt a rush of guilt so strong I almost burst into tears. But I forced myself to stay calm.
    'They're fine,' I replied. 'The reason I phoned you was...It's about Jenny.'
    'Jenny?'
    'Jenny Brakspear. You know, your ex-girlfriend. When was the last time you saw her?'
    'Christ, ages ago. Why?'
    'She's a normal girl, right? She doesn't have any secrets or anything, does she?'
    'Of course she's normal. Why are you asking me all this?'
    I took a deep breath. 'She was kidnapped tonight. About three hours ago.'
    'What? How do you know?'
    'I was there.'
    'Where?'
    I paused before answering. 'At her apartment.'
    He asked me what I'd been doing there, and then listened while I gave him a brief explanation.
    'I'm really sorry, Dom. I didn't mean to do it. It just happened, you know? And when she told me that you were still trying to get back with her, that was it. I said I wasn't interested.' This was bullshit of course, but sometimes a lie causes far less harm than the truth.
    There was a long silence on the other end of the phone and I waited, wondering if this meant the end of our friendship.
    'Did she honestly tell you I was trying to get back with her?' he asked eventually.
    'That's right, and when she said it, I told her—'
    'Are you sure?'
    'What do you mean?'
    'Are you sure that she actually said it?'
    'Of course I'm sure. It was only a few hours ago.'
    'That's weird.'
    'Why?'
    'Because,' he replied, sounding strangely distant, 'I haven't spoken to her in at least six months.'

Seven
    Unlike everyone else I'd spoken to that night, Dom didn't question my version of events, and he sounded genuinely worried about Jenny. But then, like me, he knew her personally, and I was beginning to realize what a difference that made.
    He wasn't back from Dubai until Wednesday morning but said he'd do anything he could to help before then. Unfortunately, he didn't even have her mobile number any more, so I wasn't sure what he'd be able to manage from three thousand miles away. In the meantime, he told me not to give up pressing the police for action, and we agreed to talk the next day when I'd update him on where we were with things.
    No mention was made of where all this left our friendship, but I knew that one way or another it was going to be affected. However, for the moment, it was going to be put aside while we tried to find out what the hell had happened to Jenny.
    'I can't understand it, mate,' Dom said before he rang off. 'She's just a normal girl,' he added, using my exact description of her. 'Just like anyone else.'
    Just a normal girl.
    But she wasn't, was she? Jenny Brakspear was a liar. And if she'd lied about something like that, then what else had she lied about? It could have been the sort of white lie I'd just told Dom, but the thing was, I couldn't think of an innocent or beneficial reason for her telling me that he was trying to get back with her when he wasn't.